/m/dugout

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-i've given up on the americans. i didn't enjoy it, so it's off my watchlist.
-shameless is a trainwreck, and it's more awful than not, but for some reason i'm still watching it.
-the walking dead is shifting into high gear after slogging through most of its first three seasons. the only reason i didn't stop watching after season 2 was because i never reset my DVR to stop recording it, but it has been (almost) excellent this season.
-i can see why chevy chase walked off of community after watching the first few episodes this season. his character is awful and it has nothing to do with him.
-i'm still watching the shield and i still think it's pretty great.
-archer is still outstanding. when it's at its best (like when they got anthony bourdain to guest star a few weeks ago), it's better than any other show on TV, and when it's at its worst (like when it had a whole episode dedicated to ron cadillac), it's still hilarious.
-legit is one of the best shows to premiere this year. it does lean a little too heavily on jim jeffries' standup, but that's not a huge issue this early in the series.
-justified: i'm not sure where the plot is going to end the season, but since the show has been consistently great since the pilot, i have no doubt that they'll finish strong.

-doctor who starts up again in a few weeks. can't wait.

-oh, and i don't watch many new shows until i can watch the whole first season or two on netflix/amazon/hulu, but cult, on the cw, is watchable and it might actually be really good if it doesn't start to take itself too seriously (like 24) or get bogged down in trying to create its own mythology (like lost) or go overboard with excessive gore (like the walking dead). i haven't watched the cw since 7th heaven back when i was in high school, but this show has caught my eye.

After watching the work of the veterans and recruits of the St. Louis Browns, in training in the South, three sport writers to-day confidently predict that the Browns would finish eighth in the American League race.

Wow, way to go out on a limb. You could have made that prediction just about every year and been right.

Not as easily as you could have between 1922 and 1930, when the Red Sox played the role of the Washington Generals for the entire rest of the American League.

Then why did you think I was being sarcastic in my correct answer to your question? Mathews, Bruton and Dittmer all played for the Milwaukee Brewers and the Milwaukee Braves.

I was referring to the Milwaukee Brewers of the American League, later and currently known as the Milwaukee Brewers of the National League, which everyone else seems to have figured out without too much trouble. And since the minor league Brewers were owned by the Braves the year before they moved to Milwaukee, there were (as it turns out) more than three players to play for both teams (just eyeballing the 1952 Brewers' team page, Johnny Logan jumps out), so the initial question makes no sense if the minor league Brewers are also being considered.

In a more direct answer to your question, I do not know everything on B-R; I was not aware of the existence of the minor league Brewers until you brought it up.

I was referring to the Milwaukee Brewers of the American League, later and currently known as the Milwaukee Brewers of the National League, which everyone else seems to have figured out without too much trouble. And since the minor league Brewers were owned by the Braves the year before they moved to Milwaukee, there were (as it turns out) more than three players to play for both teams (just eyeballing the 1952 Brewers' team page, Johnny Logan jumps out), so the initial question makes no sense if the minor league Brewers are also being considered.

Sure, but that's one take out of two possibilities. I chose the other one. And since you asked for three names, that's what I gave you. Since I was answering off the top of my head, I wasn't looking at the AAA Brewers' roster, and hadn't realized that there were likely more than three who made the jump.

In a more direct answer to your question, I do not know everything on B-R; I was not aware of the existence of the minor league Brewers until you brought it up.

So now we've both learned something. Can't complain about that, can we?

Cuban defector Armando Rivero agreed to sign with the Cubs last month - today, mlbtr listed his bonus - $3.1m (not subject to int'l pool restrictions). Reliever hits the mid 90s, works in the low 90s, solid splitter, iffy breaking stuff. Projects as a middle reliever, though I'd like to see the Cubs give him a rotation look in the minors. Command is eh. #s in Cuba are reasonably solid.
I think this was a good risk.

mlbtr also has a bit up suggesting that MLB and the MLBPA are working on an international draft, maybe as soon as this year. This would be, iirc, a bad thing for the Rays, who exceeded their pool - the penalty for doing so is stronger in a world with a draft.

Chris Snyder now an Angel.

Minor league middle reliever Mike Cisco also became an Angel, traded by Philly over the weekend for no compensation. Peripherals don't entice, but has posted an ERA below 2 each of the last two years in the high minors (mostly AA).

mlbtr also has a bit up suggesting that MLB and the MLBPA are working on an international draft, maybe as soon as this year. This would be, iirc, a bad thing for the Rays, who exceeded their pool - the penalty for doing so is stronger in a world with a draft.

Ian Gordon of "Mother Jones" was on "Hang Up and Listen" last week about his article on Yewri Guillen and the exploitation of Latin American players and said there would be a draft soon. He discussed some of the complications that have been raised here - does this "kill" baseball in the DR like it supposedly did in Puerto Rico? Does this discourage the "scouts", shady as they are, who find these kids? Won't this kill all the team academies, and if it does, does MLB create its own centralized academy?

37: talk has been soon for awhile - the question is how soon is soon, now?

anyway, if i'm reading the cba right - they're negotiating for a draft for '14 (which would make more sense - you need advance notice to have the framework in place).Link to the CBA, attachment 46, page 265.

But not so low that he didn't get 15 years in the majors. When I think of Phil Roof, I think of the big age disparity between him and his brother (17 years), such that one was just starting a pro career when the other was finishing up.

Of course, the Roofs don't hold the record. That might belong to the Fowler brothers, one who pitched in the '20s and the other in the '60s.

When I think of Phil Roof, I think of the big age disparity between him and his brother (17 years), such that one was just starting a pro career when the other was finishing up.

Same with Trevor and Glenn Hoffman. OK, not nearly as great an age difference, only 9 years. But their careers made it seem like more. Glenn had been retired for 4 years, after a 10 year career, before Trevor debuted. And Glenn became a manager the year Trevor was at his peak. Altogether the brothers Hoffman were active (with a short gap) from 1980-2010, while the brother's Roof (with a small gap) from 1961-1983 (hey, just like Yaz!)

Same with Trevor and Glenn Hoffman. OK, not nearly as great an age difference, only 9 years. But their careers made it seem like more. Glenn had been retired for 4 years, after a 10 year career, before Trevor debuted. And Glenn became a manager the year Trevor was at his peak. Altogether the brothers Hoffman were active (with a short gap) from 1980-2010, while the brother's Roof (with a small gap) from 1961-1983 (hey, just like Yaz!)

Joey Cora and Alex Cora too. Ten year age difference. Alex's rookie year was Joey's last year in the bigs.

High Point-Thomasville should have gotten the expansion team that went to Houston.

There was some talk about the Triad -- Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem -- as a possible expansion/relocation spot for MLB. The theory was that it was close enough to the Triangle and Charlotte to pull in fans from both.

The Triad is about 1.6 M people these days (#33) so High Point ain't exactly Central Bumfuck. The Charlotte CSA (#22) is about the same size as Pittsburgh, the Triangle CSA (#30) is about the same size as Milwaukee or Cincy. If the "regional team" concept was actually workable (I don't think it is), it would be a rather large market.

Melvin's decision goes opposite of the prime defensive metric of the 21st century -- UZR (ultimate zone rating), which assesses how many runs a defender takes away. It gives a clear edge to Young, but Melvin and general manager Billy Beane have no problem turning a blind eye to the UZR.

"We have our own proprietary defensive ratings metrics," Melvin said. "It's the best I've ever seen, better than any of the others. And it tells us that we have two elite center fielders."

Said Beane, "There's a reason it's proprietary. It's an ongoing process to improve our analysis. More than that, I'm not willing to say."

Beane and Melvin believe there isn't as much difference in the two outfielders as systems such as UZR show.

The Triad is about 1.6 M people these days (#33) so High Point ain't exactly Central Bumfuck. The Charlotte CSA (#22) is about the same size as Pittsburgh, the Triangle CSA (#30) is about the same size as Milwaukee or Cincy. If the "regional team" concept was actually workable (I don't think it is), it would be a rather large market.

It makes sense then that this regional market has teams in 3 of the 4 major sports, and with the long drives, that the only sport they don't have is the one with games practically every day of the week.

As a resident of the latter area, calling it a regional market is streeeeetching things. Charlotte is 2.5 hours away, if you avoid traffic.
Also, saying that Charlotte has two major sports teams is iffy, if you've ever watched the Bobcats.

Yeah, but I pretty much said it's not a regional market (for the reasons Der K mentioned). The idea behind the Triad was that it was about halfway in-between Charlotte and Raleigh and so people might be willing to drive that far. I don't think you'd see even that.

I don't think there are many folks driving from Raleigh to Charlotte for NBA games (football maybe) nor the other way for Hurricanes games.

Who's the A's DH? Chris Young on the bench is nuts.

Good time for a Vernon Wells spring update: 423/452/923. His OppQual is a 9 (look it up!)

I confess to not being well versed in North Carolina geography or hockey (I didn't know the NHL team was actually in Raleigh). My main point was that this doesn't work for baseball. Yes for football, maybe for the other two.